Texas scientist makes 'exquisite' dinosaur find

Updated 5:52 pm, Tuesday, August 5, 2014

A rendering of what the herd of Hadrosaurs would have looked like as they ranged across North America.

A rendering of what the herd of Hadrosaurs would have looked like as they ranged across North America.

Photo: Karen Carr

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A mid sized Hadrosaur track.

A mid sized Hadrosaur track.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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A wide view of deep track imprints.Scientists say the site discovered by a Dallas paleantologist is one of the great track sites of the world revealing valuable information about the dinosaurs which lived 70 million years ago. less

A wide view of deep track imprints.
Scientists say the site discovered by a Dallas paleantologist is one of the great track sites of the world revealing valuable information about the dinosaurs which lived 70 ... more

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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A Hadrosaur track with a skin imprint.

A Hadrosaur track with a skin imprint.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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The dinosaurs roamed these wild mountains in Alaska.

The dinosaurs roamed these wild mountains in Alaska.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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Dr. Fiorillo cleaning one of the tracks.

Dr. Fiorillo cleaning one of the tracks.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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The shear number of dinosaur footprints reveals just how many passed by here 80 million years ago.

The shear number of dinosaur footprints reveals just how many passed by here 80 million years ago.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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All sizes of Hadrosaur tracks were found indicated that they traveled in family groups.

All sizes of Hadrosaur tracks were found indicated that they traveled in family groups.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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Staying warm at the track site.

Staying warm at the track site.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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The team make molds of the tracks.

The team make molds of the tracks.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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A view of Denali National Park, Alaska, track site from the air.

A view of Denali National Park, Alaska, track site from the air.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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Scientists study the tracks.

Scientists study the tracks.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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Stephen Hasiotis and Anthony Fiorillo at the track site.

Stephen Hasiotis and Anthony Fiorillo at the track site.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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Hiking from the camp to the site.

Hiking from the camp to the site.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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Taking a break to clean up.

Taking a break to clean up.

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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Two avian theropods

Two avian theropods

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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Tracksite

Tracksite

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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Trackway

Trackway

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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Track site from above

Track site from above

Photo: Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

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The team worked through all weather conditions to uncover the tracks.

The team worked through all weather conditions to uncover the tracks.

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Texas scientist makes 'exquisite' dinosaur find

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Details of a unique and "exquisitely" presevered set of thousands of dinosaur tracks uncovered in Alaska by a Texas scientist have been revealed for the first time.

The footprints are the last trace of a herd of the vegetarian duck-billed dinosaur, the hadrosaur, proving that family groups lived in Alaska all year round when the giants ruled the Earth 70 million years ago.

The prints of the so-called polar dinosaurs range in size and paint a picture of large herds of adult dinosaurs ranging across the mountains of Alaska with younger offspring following with them – some as young as just a year old, according to researchers.

Bird fossils and some meat eating dinosaur tracks were also found elluding to a vibrant ecosystem now marked as the Denali National Park and Preserve.

When asked about the significance of the site, paleantologist Dr. Tony Fiorillosaid of his discovery, "Let's start with the size, it's enormous .. basically the size of a football field." Fiorillo is the Curator of Life Sciences at Dallas' Perot Museum and led a team of three to Alaska.

Fiorillo says the tracks are so perfectly preserved they are almost equivalent to dinosaur fingerprints.

"The preservation is exquisite, about half the tracks preserve the skin impression so you can see exactly what the bottom of a dinosaurs foot would look like." Fiorillo said.

Most other things that see the bottom of a multi ton dinosaur foot don't live to tell the tale, as proved by the fossilized insects and worms squished inside the footprints.

The hadrosaurs that left these tracks could have been gigantic and much less fluffy looking than the polar bears we now see in high latitude parts of the world. Some might weigh a few tons, the biggest up to 20 tons.

The track site was first discovered in 2007 on the final day of that year's trip to Alaska. The findings of the team led by Fiorillo have been published for the first time in the August edition of Geology.

"It takes a little while to work up what you think you've found," said Fiorillo, "This is really one of the world's great dinosaur track sites."

His team included Stephen Hasiotis from the University of Kansas and Yoshitsugu Kobayashi from Hokkaido University Museum in Japan.

Their paper printed in Geology concludes that the data collected strongly supports a theory that polar hadrosaurids were year-round residents, surviving in Arctic conditions just as some animals do now.

The work funded in part by the U.S. National Park Service also shows for the first time that the gentle vegetarians lived in multi-generational herds, something not previously recognized from bone beds or other tracks sites, according to the paper.

The dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.

Researchers say finds like this are essential in understanding human kind as well.

"To know who you are, you have to know how we got here, dinosaurs provide that," said Fiorillo.